Sergio
Martino was one of the undisputed masters of the giallo thriller, having served
up a series of unforgettable offerings including but not limited to So Sweet…So Perverse, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, Your Vice Is A Locked Room and Only I Have
the Key, and the recently re-released All
the Colors of the Dark. His next
picture, originally titled The Bodies
Bear Traces of Carnal Violence before being retitled Torso for the North American release, arguably represents the pinnacle
of the writer-director’s giallo output and is frequently regarded by Martino as
his masterpiece.
Set
within the college university town of Perugia, a sexual predator and serial
murderer is lurking amid the campus grounds picking off female students one by
one before disposing of their bodies with a hacksaw. Panicked by the surge in students dropping
dead, Jane (The Bird with the Crystal
Plumage scream queen Suzy Kendall) flees the scene with three of her
friends to the countryside until it’s safe to return. However, the unsuspecting foursome is unaware
the killer they seemingly left behind has been sneakily tailing them and their tranquil
and secluded vacation spot is about to become a blood and death drenched
nightmare!
One
of the most suspenseful offerings in the history of giallo with a grand finale
of sustained white-knuckle tension that goes on well over thirty minutes
without a break, Torso like What Have You Done to Solange? is hard
and heavy psychosexual thriller-fare with moments of still-startling ultraviolence
and many unexpected shocks and surprises.
Keeping you guessing the identity of the killer at all times with no
safety net to protect our unlucky heroine Jane, Torso flirts frequently with red herrings and misleading clues to
keep viewers on their toes with danger seemingly lurking around every
corner.
Also
playing heavily on distinctly male scopophilia with the camera zeroing in on
the sleazy gazing eyes of peeping toms, locals, and just plain horny old men with
suspicion cast on nearly every male character encountered, sex trade and commodification
of the female body seems to be a recurring theme in the writer-director’s
giallo output. As with his more
user-friendly The Suspicious Death of a
Minor years later, that our main female characters find themselves fending
off catcalls, stalkers and all other manner of constant unwanted male attention
from all sides only amplifies the sense of omnipresent danger.
Visually
the film is handsomely lensed by frequent Martino collaborator Giancarlo
Ferrando, capturing in wide angled shots the scenic beauty of Perugia and the
surrounding countryside when the camera isn’t pushing into tight, claustrophobic
close-ups of the actresses’ faces and fear-streaked eyes. And then there’s that splendid score by the
Italian musicians Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, one of the only giallo
soundtracks by the pair. Second to Ennio
Morricone or Riz Ortolani’s more striking gialli film scores for deftly
skirting between seductive jazz when it isn’t beating on the drums and piano whipping
up a tense, nerve wracking atmosphere, their music creates a sense of urgency,
unease, titillation and fight-or-flight terror.
Silence is used just as effectively with some of Torso’s most suspenseful moments stemming from near dead quiet ala
Hitchcock’s Rear Window where the
less you can hear or be heard, the more terrifying the cat-and-mouse game of survival
becomes.
Released
in the US as Torso nearly a year
after premiering in Italy, Martino’s film acquired by showman/distributor
Joseph Brenner saw roughly three minutes of gore and additional footage
censored out before becoming a popular double-bill with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the ‘70s drive-in circuit. Opinions were mixed initially, with some
decrying the whole thing as sleazy trash while others praised the technical
merits and ability to terrorize genre cinema fans. Thanks to the ongoing education provided by
Arrow Video and becoming accustomed with Martino who is shaping up to be one of
the underrated great Italian directors-for-hire, I’m fairly confident in calling
Torso one of the quintessential
giallo offerings.
Yes
if you’ve seen a few of these Italian exploitation
women-in-peril thrillers (although men don’t fare well either in this), you sort
of know what’s ahead. On the other hand,
even already knowing the genre conventions/clichés and stylistic motifs there
aren’t many which ratchet up such raw and sustained dread without relief quite
like this one, proving once more Sergio Martino is an expert in giallo fare to
learn from and respect. Martino excelled
at it and Torso is one of his very
best contributions the genre has to offer!
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki